wildscape. literary journal

Dagger Sonnet
by Paul atten Ash

after Carleton Watkins, ‘Three Brothers, Yosemite Valley’ (1872–75)

hear Ahwahneechee women grinding acorns in cupules †
weaving willow and sedge † old Tenaya’s ghost gaping-
mouthed † Death comes riding in on horseback † miners
& militiamen firing rounds † their demands to quitclaim
yohhe'meti lands † genocide’s a dagger at a gunfight, my sons †
here the Three Brothers stagger † whispering they are killers †
the Merced’s blood-sky mirror † history is fatal-black, sick †
hear cries for mercy † razed remnants of Mono Lake Paiutes †
White gold-seekers like a plague felling Ponderosa pines †
here a country is burning villages † erasing its own people †
and here a photographer is capturing the American sublime †
its perfect aura of incompletion † in Amen albumen-silver †
here is God’s blessed valley † unpeopled † awaiting eschaton †
like a dagger through the heart † that’s how the West is won †

about the author // Paul atten Ash